The sugarcane harvest has commenced across the state with growers in North Queensland optimistic a good-sized crop will be rewarded with strong global sugar prices.
Home Hill grower Owen Menkens kicked off his harvest last Thursday and is anticipating to cut 35,000 tonnes from his operation, which will be sent to Inkerman Mill.
"All the mills in the Burdekin are now going and I believe 18 of the 20 are going across the state," he said.
"It's pretty much all go at the moment."
Mr Menkens said recent wet weather across the state had delayed the start of the season.
"We are probably a little bit behind on where we should be, but the weather is what it is," he said.
"This year sugar prices are running around mid-to-late $500, which is higher than what it's been for the last few years.
"Probably for the next couple of years ahead, it'll be up around $550 mark, but the input costs have risen substantially since last year.
"The cost of production has gone up a lot, so we need a higher price."
Mr Menkens, who is also the chairman of Canegrowers, said 30 million tonnes of cane was expected to be harvested across the state.
"In the Burdekin alone, we are expecting to harvest eight million tonnes, but it may be a bit higher than that," he said.
"We're sort of hearing across the state that with this winter rain and because it has been reasonably warm in the period, it has grown on a bit, so we might have a higher crop than what we are estimating at the moment."
Wilmar Sugar Australia general manager for operations, Mike McLeod, said the crushing season had commenced at all eight of Wilmar Sugar's mills with Herbert, Burdekin, Proserpine and Sarina regions all going full steam ahead.
Reports from the first week of crushing at Wilmar's Invicta and Inkerman mills saw a throughput of just over 120,000 tonnes; above the week one budget for both mills.
The average weekly CCS was 12.44, which was slightly below budget, but CCS samples hit highs of 16.3 from rakes of Q240 and Q183 Plant cane in the Mulgrave productivity zone (Invicta).
"We're looking at a total crop estimate of 15.28 million tonnes for the Wilmar group, which is about 680,000 tonnes up on last year, and we expect to see some upside in the crop due to the good growing conditions," Mr McLeod said.
"We're also seeing sugar prices of around $600 a tonne over recent months, which is real cause for optimism."